Arbor Health

"After two years of trying desperately to get answers from countless providers on both sides of the Atlantic, I wanted to cry when we walked through the door of Arbor Health and Dr. Zendi diagnosed our daughter with a "textbook case" of PANS and told us, "she will get better." One year later, that dream has come true. Our journey is not over, but it is hard to imagine where we would be today had we not found Arbor Health. With compassionate curiosity, Dr. Zendi and her team dug until they got to the root of the problem (Lyme+) and then, drawing on tools from a variety of toolboxes, began the healing process. The level of support has been incredible, and I cannot recommend Arbor Health highly enough. My only wish is that this resource could be available to all families struggling with PANS."

"Arbor health has been life changing for my son and our family. Dr Zendi has approached the care of my son’s Pandas in a way in which has allowed him to not only function but heal and embrace life in a way that he would not have been able to without the intervention of this team. Along side an incredible and supportive team, we have navigated my son’s symptoms and with each change , alterations have been made with medications and approaches to better health . They listen and hear us when symptoms are exacerbated and then dig deep into what is going on. They have identified a hidden mold source that we never would have known was an issue in our home that was causing our sons body to react . And this negatively impacted his over all health. With that knowledge , we were able to solve the problem and with the added help of the team, we were able to overcome this and get back to normal health. Our son feels supported and empowered by his health in a way that allows him to take the good and bad days and make the most of them. As of recent , the bad days are very few and far between. And I attribute that to his hard work and the incredible attention paid to detail and the care put into guiding our child through this illness. The knowledge that Dr Zendi and her team has, enabled them to utilize medications along with supplements and good health to treat him as a whole patient . I will be forever grateful for finding such a wonderful team . I credit their dedication and precision to my sons overall health and happiness . We would not be in such a good place today if not for the care of Arbor Health."

"Arbor health overall has been a great experience. They've healed me and I feel so much better internally. Though it's a gradual process and not an over night fix, every employee is friendly and very helpful, and they work to help each person in their unique situation. They look at your OVERALL health as one issue may be the cause for illness throughout different parts in the body (The stomach greatly effects mental health). I highly recommend neurofeedback for mental health! I've battled mental health for years and neurofeedback is the most effective treatment I've found."

"I am an AuDHD adult located in Virginia, and I was looking into functional medicine because mainstream medicine is not set up to care for autistic and ADHD bodies. While everyone I interacted with at Arbor Health seemed to genuinely care about patients and have good intentions, good intentions aren't always enough, and my experience was disappointing. The biggest problem is that while during my intake conversation, I was assured that Arbor Health could meet my goals of better understanding physiological differences common to autistic people (especially connective tissue differences, mast cell activation, and autonomic nervous dysfunction). However, the physician they assigned me (Dr Szuch) had no knowledge of autistic physiology and no experience working with autistic clients. I had mentioned in the extensive paperwork I had to complete that I was disabled due to severe, chronic autistic burnout, and she didn't even look up what autistic burnout was. She also wasn't prepared to work with someone who displays flat affect, and at one point when my face was neutral, she asked if I was upset. As with most microaggressions, it was an innocently intended remark with a harsh impact, triggering the anxiety and shame of a lifetime of being criticized for my face being "wrong". We did talk about these concerns, and while she did assure me sincerely that she would try to be better prepared for future meetings, I realized that that I wasn't ever really going to be comfortable working with her, and there were no other clinicians licensed in VA. The other thing that disappointed me is that they were not upfront about the costs of testing. The program itself is already expensive and out-of-pocket (I was quoted $4400 paid over the course of 12 months), but I was assured that the testing done would be bloodwork that insurance would probably cover. But that wasn't the case--they recommended $1367 worth of testing that my insurance would not have covered. I probably would have gone ahead with it, but once I researched the potential diagnosis Dr Szuch suggested (SIBO), I found that what was described didn't fit with my experience at all, and that made me feel less confident that the tests would be worth the money. The tests were also assigned without any regard to whether it was possible for me to complete them. I was not able to find a lab in my area who would be able to do the blood draw for me. On top of that, one of the tests ordered required significant executive function, which is something I struggle with. I had noted my issues with executive dysfunction in my paperwork, but no one bothered to consider that that might mean I would need accommodations during my treatment. I realized that I was going to have to do a lot of self-advocacy work if I wanted to continue with this practice, and the fact is I just wouldn't have had the spoons for it. There were also ways in which my values and the practice's values just do not align: I am very anti-diet culture, and Arbor Health frequently sends emails about nutrition coaching sessions focused on weight management. There were also comments in the orientation video about how it's bad to eat pizza that I found off-putting. When I was first researching the practice, I did notice that they used the puzzle piece symbol for autism on their website, but I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt because some people simply aren't aware that the symbol is controversial. Ultimately, I think their not knowing about the controversy signaled a deeper lack of awareness of issues affecting the autistic community or preparedness to work with autistic clients. Hopefully in the future they will be better prepared, because functional medicine is a resource that could really benefit our community."

"Before finding Arbor Health, my son had seen more than 10 doctors and none of them had taken a holistic approach to his treatment. After a second opinion trip to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia that left us with no answers, we were very excited to find an expert in our own backyard. Our team at Arbor has been amazing to work with. Their approach to treating Lyme Disease and PANS has been completely on point and I highly recommend them. Our health coach sets up frequent calls to check in and it feels like home when we are in the office. I also really appreciate that they take a mother's intuition into consideration when discussing treatment changes."